


Upgrading

by ClothesBeam



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-13
Updated: 2016-10-21
Packaged: 2018-08-14 20:21:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8027707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClothesBeam/pseuds/ClothesBeam
Summary: Maybe there's something there that wasn't there before...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm rare pair shipping trash who can't be bothered checking if this makes sense in the canon timeline *waves magic author hand*

Blurr couldn’t help the grin plastered across his faceplate. Kup had just confirmed they’d be coming in for shore leave in a few short shift cycles. While the ship their unit was using at the moment was relatively spacious for their small team, no vehicle short of a cruise ship had enough room for his favourite activity.

He walked into the canteen area, making his way over to the energon dispenser. Seeing it was out of order put a slight damper on his mood, but Perceptor was already up to his elbows in its innards, so it wouldn’t be long before he could get his ration.

About to turn around and come back later, Blurr paused in the doorway when he noticed Perceptor seemed to be repeating a similar motion with increasing frustration. Blurr found his pedes carrying him back over, curious and a little concerned.

“You all right there, Perceptor?” he asked.

The scientist stiffened, not seeming to have noticed that he hadn’t actually left the room. He glanced back briefly, long and far enough for Blurr to see the patch over his damaged optic.

“Fine,” he answered uncharacteristically shortly.

He didn’t know what exactly had happened to Perceptor on his last mission, but he’d become even more self-contained ever since. And he was pretty sure the only thing slowing down the tirade of upgrades was his current lack of depth perception. Blurr was sure that would change as soon as he managed to recalibrate his optic.

“No, seriously, if you need a hand I’m free.” Blurr returned to his side, perhaps a little too quickly.

“I need more an optic than a hand,” Perceptor muttered, but leaned back to let Blurr take a look at what he was doing.

“Fortunately, I can help with that too,” he replied as he knelt down next to Perceptor, wary of the grease from the inside of the tap mechanism. “What am I looking at?”

“A build-up of dirt is obstructing the part of the mechanism that opens the faucet while the button is being pushed. I must keep missing something in there, since I’ve put it back together and taken it apart again twice now and it still isn’t working properly.” A tool with a heavy handle and a pointed end landed in his hand before Perceptor continued. “See if you can scrape it out.”

Blurr grimaced, but leaned forward and tried to identify the part he was talking about. “Ugh, if I had have known that’s what you wanted, I wouldn’t have come back.”

“The _door_ isn’t broken,” Perceptor replied coolly. “I’ll take care of it myself, eventually.”

“You should take care of your optic first,” he replied offhandedly, finally identifying the part Perceptor wanted him to work on.

“I know, I just can’t seem to adjust the vision correctly,” he confessed, his good optic trained on Blurr’s hand as if to make sure he wasn’t about to damage anything further.

“Well,” Blurr paused and flinched as a chunk of _something_ disconnected from the machine and flicked into the air between them, “why don’t you just use an overlay from an external screen? I used to use visors to support my HUD all the time when I had to train for the circuit. You could program them to do all sorts of things.”

Blurr crinkled his olfactory, changing the angle of his scraping in an attempt to get the rest of it out.

“That way, all my processing power could go toward reacting to things at high speed while the visor monitored every part of my frame’s performance imaginable. It let me identify and optimise the upgrades I needed as well,” he added, trying not to speak too fast, but eager to share his experiences.

Perceptor was quiet for a while, but reached out to still Blurr’s hand when the second chunk of dirt flew out from between the mechanism parts. “That’s enough, you’ll break it even more in a minute. And… I think that could work for me, too.”

Blurr withdrew the tool and glanced down at Perceptor’s newly reinforced chassis. He still didn’t know all the details, but he felt he was coming to understand the bigger picture now. “Does all this have something to do with the mission the Decepticon showed up for?”

Perceptor immediately adopted a more defensive posture and pretended he was involved enough in the machine reassembly to ignore him. “Drift is an Autobot now,” he eventually reminded.

Blurr stood slowly and shrugged. “Yeah, that guy.”

“ _That guy_ was the only who came back for me,” he added quietly.

Blurr frowned deeply, surprised yet not surprised. “Well, I’m glad he did,” he admitted, patting Perceptor’s shoulder gently. He didn’t realise it was on his blind side until the scientist had jumped in surprise.

Perceptor paused and reached behind the dispenser. “Here, I drew a few cubes before shutting it off completely, just in case.” A cube of pink energon was held aloft.

“Oh, thanks,” Blurr mumbled, happy to take the offering and not have to wait for the machine. “Just let me know if you need anything else, I’m more than happy to help.”

Perceptor glanced back at him with a small smile. “Will do.”


	2. Chapter 2

Blurr lay on his berth with his arms folded, fingers tapping against his arm faster and faster. He’d gone to recharge to try and make the time between now and their shore leave go faster, but now he was over-energised without an outlet. And it would still be ages before they reached whatever passed for civilization in this corner of the universe.

Eventually he sat up, wondering how he could have both an abundance of energy and an empty fuel tank at the same time. He left his too cramped quarters and moved toward the slightly more spacious canteen area. This early in the artificial cycle, there was hardly anyone around. He took a cube from the recently refurbished dispenser and sat near the end of one of the long benches behind an empty table.

His leg bounced restlessly as he forced himself to intake the energon slowly. He didn’t even know how he was going to amuse himself once it ran out, so he felt he had to make the moment last somehow. Unfortunately, slowing down wasn’t exactly his strong suit.

The sound of two mechs coming down the hall toward the communal area instantly caught his attention. He glanced around as the doors slid open, and saw Perceptor and the ex-Decepticon moving over to the energon dispenser.

Blurr picked out the new upgrades in the space of a glance. The most obvious one was the glass lens resting over the scientist’s still damaged, but now uncovered, optic. He felt a flash of satisfaction when he realised Perceptor had made use of his anecdote. The changes in his faceplate, however, didn’t become pronounced until he began to approach.

The change was subtle, but the new angles and corners had a major effect. Perceptor somehow looked more… _serious_ now. But the change in demeanour wasn’t all superficial. His posture and stride presented a new confidence as well. He hadn’t even considered Perceptor as attractive before now, but he was quickly being convinced otherwise.

“Hey,” Blurr called in greeting, and they took that as an invitation to move towards him. Perceptor sat down, but it was only now that he noticed the ex-Decepticon hadn’t taken anything for himself yet.

“Greetings, Blurr,” the ex-Decepticon said, casually resting a hand on his hip structure.

“Uh, hi,” he replied, trying to remember what Perceptor had said his name was yesterday. He was terrible with designations. But really he only had himself to blame for that one, since he’d never bothered with others’ unless they were important to his career.

“I need to get back to my training routine now,” he said, not seeming to notice Blurr’s floundering, thankfully. “I’d say you’ve come up with a good fix for your depth perception, after all that, Perceptor,” he added, gently placing a hand on his shoulder.

Blurr noticed Perceptor stiffen slightly as he gazed up at him. Blurr wasn’t sure whether to laugh at the saviour worship or beat his own faceplate against the table in commiseration of his developing feelings’ wonderful sense of timing.

But the moment was relatively short lived; the mech quickly took his hand away again. “See you later.”

Perceptor straightened when he turned away from them. He didn’t turn back to his cube until the door had closed behind the object of his affections. He glanced at Blurr. “His name is Drift,” he said quietly, knowing he’d needed to be reminded. He was corrected with far less hostility than the last time they’d met in here. Blurr considered that to be an improvement.

“Drift, Drift… Right, think I’ve got it,” he replied, hoping it was true. “Have you got any plans for shore leave?”

“I’m the insufferable nerd, remember? It doesn’t matter to me whether I’m on a ship or planet side.” Blurr took note of the small smile, the only signal belaying his acerbic tone.

Blurr leaned forward and made a show of scrutinising his frame. “Well if you had wheels, you’d soon get sick of not being able to use them too,” he admonished. “I’m going to find the nearest clearing and burn myself out, top speed, no stopping for anything. If you’ve had any strokes of genius about how to improve my performance lately, you should come along and gather data.”

“I’ve only had one idea about that lately,” Perceptor said, taking a sip of his morning energon. Blurr leaned forward again, keen to know more. “Sticking my pede up you aft.”

Blurr laughed and nudged him. “Much like using me for your target practice while I’m driving, I don’t think it’s going to do much,” he replied, referencing the last time they’d had this conversation and he’d gotten a similar smart aft answer. “But, well, if you’re into that sort of thing,” he added with a smirk.

Percpetor almost physically backpedalled now that he’d turned the conversation on its head. Blurr leaned back slightly, letting him have his personal space back. He wasn’t really trying to be crude, he just didn’t know how to come on subtly anymore. At the height of his career he’d had his pick of willing partners, and Wreckers only screwed each other when they were too over-energised to remember much of anything the next day. It was how they avoided affecting team dynamics over something inconsequential.

But he’d suddenly put himself under pressure to succeed with this particular mech. And now he was tripping over himself in the process.

Perceptor had gone quiet and returned to his energon. Blurr pressed on, not sure if it was the best thing to do, but he didn’t want the conversation to end on that note. “In seriousness though, you should at least go for a drink with someone. Who knows what our next insane orders are going to be?”

“I suppose you’re right. Maybe Drift would be interested in seeing what we’ve achieved with your frame? Then we can hope there’s someplace that serves fuel we’re capable of ingesting.”

Blurr wondered if he should concede his defeat at that point. It went against his nature, but this wasn’t the kind of thing pushing harder would help with. He still knew _that_ much.

He pulled the photogenic smile he’d learnt to make on his rise to fame. It was fake, but it didn’t look it, and that was what was important here. “Yeah, sounds fun.”

Perceptor smiled softly again, and it felt like enough.


	3. Chapter 3

Blurr edged closer and closer to Drift, wind whipping over their car frames as they sped through the stretch of relatively clear forest. Sometimes it was hard to remember how far the noise of their engines carried, but for now they were staying far from the trading post to avoid interrupting the people who lived in and ran it.

Drift seemed to think he was managing to keep up, but Blurr was just about to give him a little taste of what he could really do. He switched gears in preparation, and activated the boosters Perceptor had helped him build and install.

He shot ahead, the wind passing over his frame more violently now, and even interfering with Drift’s movement. Drift slammed his brakes on and then transformed shortly before he’d skidded to a complete halt. Blurr could see in his mirrors that he was staring in wonder.

He slammed down his own brakes, performing a satisfying slide before finally coming to a halt. Drift approached him on foot as he transformed. “Amazing!” he complimented easily. Blurr noticed his optics raking over his frame, and basked in the attention. It was only then he remembered that Percy was watching them.

“That wasn’t even half of what I can do, thanks to Perceptor,” he replied, looking in the direction of the scientist turned sniper. Likely they were still in his range of vision. He waved, just in case. “Speaking of which, we should head back.”

He had intended to stay out longer, but the dirt on this planet seemed to almost magnetise to his plating. His front axle felt like it was grinding a little, and he wanted to look at least somewhat presentable when they went for a drink.

Drift shrugged. “All right, lead the way then.”

Blurr flashed him a grin before transforming and proceeding at something much closer to his full speed. The familiar thrill of approaching a target at high speed shot through his frame as he quickly ate up the distance to Perceptor.

The scientist glanced down at the instrument he was using to measure Blurr’s performance. By the time he looked back up, Blurr was almost on top of him and wasn’t showing any signs of slowing down. His optics seemed to widen in slow motion as he took half a step back.

Deciding he’d freaked him out enough to be getting on with, Blurr pushed himself into the air long enough to change back yet again, then skidded to halt. The friction burned the bottom of his pedes in an almost pleasant way.

But due to a slight misjudgement, he collided with Perceptor before he could come to a complete halt. Thankfully he’d only made him stumble back a few steps, but the scientist still looked disgruntled. “ _Blurr_ ,” he grumbled, and it was only now that Blurr realised how much he liked hearing his name said in Perceptor’s cultured accent.

Blurr glanced back, seeing Drift was also on his way over. “What’s wrong Percy, don’t trust me?”

Perceptor frowned and looked away, glancing at Drift as he pulled up alongside them. “Should we get going?” he asked.

Perceptor nodded, and they began the trek back toward the trading post, and their ship. Blurr bounced on his pedes slightly, having to consciously make himself keep to their pace. His fuel was still pumping quickly. After this he’d be spending the rest of their time here doing doughnuts, at this rate.

“So, Percy,” he said quickly, turning to look at him as he spoke. His expression was generally a good indicator of whether he was speaking too quickly. “How are the upgrades treating you?”

Perceptor nodded slowly, seeming to put some sincere consideration into his answer. “It was strange at first, but there’s been a lot of improvement since. Once my optic is as close to fully functional as it’s ever going to be again, I can start working on reinforcing more of my plating.”

“Well, if that’s your thing,” Blurr replied with a shrug. He couldn’t see the appeal of doing anything that would increase his own weight, but then, it’d probably benefit someone like Perceptor who tended be more of a sitting duck on the battlefield.

“So, it’s unlikely that there’ll be much variety, but what do you like drinking?” Drift asked as he squinted into the distance. The trading post was coming into view.

Blurr glanced at Perceptor, since he wasn’t sure who Drift was actually addressing, and he was interested in what the scientist’s answer would be. “Anything pale and dry,” he replied shortly.

Drift nodded and glanced at Blurr. “Anything with a fizz, and the brighter it glows, the better. You?”

The racer gave half a smile and shrugged slightly. “You’ll see.”

They were left to consider his mysterious non-answer until they reached the trading post. The bar stood out as one of the main centres of activity, even at this time of the planet’s day.

“You two go find a table. I’ll see what they have in the way of fuel,” Drift said, casually indicating the outdoor seating with a tilt of his head.

Blurr shrugged. “I should’ve known that was a ruse. I’ll get the next round.”

The look in Drift’s optics became slightly distant and he gave an empty smile. “It’s all right, I can take care of it.”

He squeezed through the crowd to get to the bar before Blurr could protest. “Let’s go get a seat,” Perceptor said, barely audible over the noise of the crowd. Blurr nodded and they went back out to the outdoor area, and the seating that could accommodate their species.

“I’m glad it’s nice out. Remember that time we got ‘shore leave’ while the section of the planet we’d stopped off on was being sieged by the most severe sandstorm in the native inhabitants’ living memory? No one could leave the ship for the entire week we were stuck there!” Blurr said as they sat.

Perceptor laughed softly. “I do recall your devastation, yes. I’m surprised you didn’t literally bounce off the walls during that time.”

Blurr glanced up, about to give a smart retort, but saw that Drift was approaching them with three full glasses already. “That was quick!” he exclaimed. The highest form of praise he knew, of course.

Drift shrugged again, looking slightly uncomfortable. “It’s amazing what tipping well can get you.” He put the glasses he had a slightly precarious hold on onto the table. He pushed the pale liquid toward Perceptor, and something that was bubbling in Blurr’s direction. He kept a plain looking drink for himself, and Blurr wondered if it could even get anyone intoxicated.

“Cheers,” Blurr said, sniffing his drink and being pleasantly surprised that it didn’t seem to be half bad. “I’m surprised they have stuff like this, this far out.”

Drift glanced away before saying, “I’m not. There used to be a Decepticon base not too far from this planet, not that long ago.”

“What is the deal with all of that, anyway?” Blurr asked as he casually leaned back in his chair. He left the question open so Drift could say as much or as little as he was comfortable with. “Why the sudden change of spark?”

Despite the delicate question, it did elicit a small laugh. “ _Sudden_ change? No, not at all.” He took a long draw of his drink before setting the glass back down on the table and tapping the rim of it as he thought. “It’s not a story I’m ready to tell in detail yet. But essentially, I guess it’s because I fell in love.”

“With an Autobot?” Blurr asked, back to being confused again.

“A neutral,” Drift corrected shortly. “He saved my life and, well… He passed away right before I joined the Wreckers,” he added, choosing his words and the information they would disclose carefully.

“I’m sorry,” Perceptor said softly, before returning to his drink.

Drift just shook his head. “I’d say there’s no need to be sorry, but now I’ve put a major damper on my mood. I might just head back early.”

Blurr glanced up at Perceptor, who also looked like he was in pain now, and wouldn’t meet his optic. “All right, I guess we’ll see you tomorrow. We are getting all of tomorrow for shore leave as well, right?”

“That’s what I heard,” Drift confirmed before pushing his half-empty drink away and standing up. “Have a good night.”

“Good night,” Perceptor added as he turned away.

Blurr waited a few moments for him to get out of hearing range before leaning forward. “And what’s the matter with you Percy? Looks like someone stabbed you through the spark.”

Perceptor absently rubbed his newly replaced chestplate with a small frown. Eventually he answered. “I believe Drift was explaining why I should stop mooning after him, just now. I became fond of him because he saved me, but a similar thing has happened to him recently, except he was in my position.”

Blurr nodded, somewhat surprised that Perceptor was being so forward. Maybe the drink was beginning to affect him already. “Not only is he still in pain over his loss, but I think we’ve all noticed how superstitious he is as well,” Blurr observed.

“I guess,” Perceptor replied, swirling the remaining liquid in the bottom of his glass.

Blurr looked down at his own mostly empty glass. “Do you want another round?”

Perceptor shook his head, still looking a little miserable. Blurr could appreciate what Drift had been trying to do, but really all he’d done now was kill the mood. But still, Blurr didn’t want to pass up this opportunity. Who knew if or when they would get another chance like this?

“Well then, I’m going back to the ship if no one’ll drink with me. But,” he paused, wondering both how overt he should be and what exactly he was asking for. “I want you to come with me to my quarters. Will you?”

Perceptor hesitated and his hand closed around his glass a little tighter. Part of Blurr hoped he wasn’t about to throw what was left of it at him.

“I will.”


	4. Chapter 4

Perceptor sat on the edge of his berth with his legs crossed, since there wasn’t anything else in here to sit on. Blurr hesitated, feeling strangely uncomfortable in his own space. Funnily enough, getting Perceptor on his berth had been the easy part. Now he had to work out what the pit he actually wanted to say.

“So,” he started, but found himself trailing off again almost right away. “You’ve probably noticed me staring?” Well, that made it sound weird, but it was better than standing around in silence like an idiot.

“I’d thought it was because you were unnecessarily worried about me,” Perceptor replied, not looking up at him.

“Well, it was, at first,” Blurr admitted. “But it didn’t take long to see you’re stronger than I thought. Still, nothing wrong with relying on others sometimes. We’re all supposed to be working as a team around here.”

Perceptor nodded, seeming to dissect his words one by one. It was hard to speak to such an analytical listener. And he could see what he’d just said was distasteful to him. “Yes, supposedly.” Perceptor paused, and then seemed to simmer down a little. “So what _is_ the point you’re trying to make?”

“Well, I guess there’s no delicate way of putting this, but, I’ve been staring because I like what I see?” Percy’s stare was enough to make him want to backpedal. Or maybe to just run out of the room altogether. “I mean, it’s not just a physical thing.” Though the physical changes had certainly helped. “It’s like I’ve just seen another side to you. And… I like it.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Perceptor huffed, folding his arms as well now. “Hardly any time has passed since then, and we’ve barely spoken in the interim.”

Blurr stepped forward, a certain comment on the tip of his glossa. He decided to act with the poorly formed thought that Perceptor would just push him away if he wasn’t interested. Blurr must only weigh two thirds of what he did by now…

“Well, like I said, some of it’s physical,” he said quickly, before climbing into the microscope’s lap. It was strange to only have the slight hum of cooling fans beneath him, and no rumbling engine.

Perceptor leaned back with surprise and unfolded his arms, his hands positioned as though he was about to push him away. Blurr acted impulsively, grabbing Perceptor’s shoulders and pressing his mouth against his. He didn’t kiss back.

Perceptor’s hands rested on his upper arms, and Blurr braced himself for the coming impact with the ground. But, surprisingly, the hands softened and fingers gently stroked against the thin and delicate metal of his vents, making him shudder. Perceptor’s mouth moved hesitantly, but while his technique was unpractised, it was hardly unpleasant.

Blurr leaned in further, insistently pushing his weight against Perceptor. They separated for a moment so that Perceptor could rearrange himself and lie back on the berth. “You’re such a shallow aft port,” he grumbled.

Blurr just grinned down at him, having come to expect insults like this from him. “What is this obsession you have with my aft? Are you trying to trick me into letting you try to put your pede up it or something?” he teased.

Perceptor rolled his optics and moved to push him away, but stopped in his half-hearted attempts when Blurr’s mouth met his again. His mouth curved into a smile when he realised it was Perceptor’s roundabout way of telling him that he liked it. He leaned back again and ran a hand down the scientist’s side, feeling his increase in temperature and listening to his stuttering vents.

Well, there was plenty more where that came from.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wtf no threesome did clothesbeam even write this


End file.
